A manganese oxide/MOF nano-composite for the adsorption of methylene blue from an aqueous solution

Abstract

Metal-organic framework composites exhibit several advantages, including water stability which is critical for the actual applications of MOF in aqueous-phase media. In this regard, a new MnO2/IRMOF-3 composite material was synthesized via the bottle-around-ship method and characterized using different methods such as FT-IR, PXRD, BET, TGA SEM-EDX analyses. The diffraction peaks reveal the high crystallinity of prepared material. Decrease in surface area for the composite material compared to IRMOF-3 can be attributed to the partial filling of the IRMOF-3 pores by the MnO2 nanoparticles. The potential of the synthesized material was examined for the removal of methylene blue from an aqueous solution. The effect of adsorbent dosages, adsorbate concentration, pH of the solution, and adsorbant-adsorbate contact time was investigated. The synthesized material shows high efficiency in removing the methylene blue from an aqueous solution at almost neutral pH conditions with low contact time. The results reveal the advantages of composite material over parent MOF material for applications in aqueous media.